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SCMP Reporter

Five officials from a county hospital in Tianjin  were disciplined after five newborns  died from an infection in  three days.
Wang Xin,  president of Ji county  Maternal and Child Care Service Centre  and also the director of the county's health bureau, was removed from his administrative posts. 
Three other staff in charge of care for newborns at the centre and the centre's vice-president were also sacked,  the official Tianjin Daily  reported.
 Around March 15, six newborns  with various symptoms were admitted to  what was reputed to be the best children's hospital in the county and put in incubators. But  within two days, all developed  fever, rashes and yellowish skin. 
Anxious parents  took the infants to  Beijing Children's Hospital,   but five died between March 19 and 21.  The sixth remained in intensive care.
Laboratory tests by  Beijing Children's Hospital found that three of the newborns had contracted a bacterium usually found in clinics and hospitals, indicating that the infection had developed in the centre. They then developed  septicaemia,  a serious condition in which infection is spread  by the circulatory system.
The Ministry of Health  and the Tianjin Health Department  launched investigations into the deaths, and initial ministry findings indicated that the incubators were 'seriously contaminated, and had not been sterilised thoroughly'.
The investigators said the disinfectant used at the hospital was too diluted and the medical staff at the centre were not well-informed about infection prevention,  the ministry's newspaper, Health News, reported.  
The hospital  was ordered to stop admitting   expectant mothers and newborns.  The families of the five dead newborns will be compensated with 180,000 yuan (HK$204,000) each.
 In September, eight newborns  died  from infections contracted at the No1 Affiliated Hospital  of the medical college at Jiaotong University  in Xian.  Investigators said the deaths were caused by 'lax management, inefficient observance of regulations and irresponsible medical staff'.
 Paediatrician Ding Zongyi  said that keeping newborn units clean was a simple procedure  which could prevent ward infections. 
'The regulations are almost the same,' he said. 'It has nothing to do with the medical level of the hospital and has much to do with whether the medical staff are responsible and strictly carry out regulations.'



Hospital officials sacked after 5 newborns die from infection